MADRID: Villarreal moved above Real Madrid and into the top four in La Liga after a 2-1 win over Levante on Saturday that piled more pressure on the struggling champions’ coach Zinedine Zidane. A 26th-minute penalty from Manu Trigueros and Real youth product Denis Cheryshev’s first league goal in nearly two years saw Javier Calleja’s side, who beat Real at the Santiago Bernabeu for the first time ever last week, move up to 34 points, two ahead of Real. Zidane’s team are fifth, level on 32 points with Sevilla, who crushed Espanyol 3-0 in a dominant display in Catalonia that gave Vincenzo Montella his first league win since arriving in Spain in late December. Madrid do have two games in hand on the teams around them, though, and host Deportivo on Sunday. The draw at the Wanda Metropolitano means Atletico are second and eight points behind Barca, who can almost end discussion over the league title with a win at Real Betis on Sunday.

Source: New Strait Times January 20, 2018 22:18 UTC